Strengths: A good selection of well-priced, effective AHA products utilizing glycolic acid; also excels with skin-lightening and retinol products; a small but workable selection of cleansers.

Weaknesses:A couple of moisturizers with oxygenating ingredients; reliance on jar packaging for some products with antioxidants.

Known primarily for their well-formulated AHA products, Alpha Hydrox got an impressive image update recently. Although the improvements were more visual and packaging-related than formulary-driven, the fact remains that Alpha Hydrox has a formidable range of effective AHA products, all with definitively researched glycolic acid. Kudos to the company for continuing to be direct about the AHA content (and pH) of their exfoliants, something most other lines selling AHA products prefer to keep a mystery. Should the folks behind this brand choose to go back to the drawing board once again, they would do well to reconsider their current jar packaging if they intend to keep adding antioxidants and other beneficial ingredients to their efficacious but still predominantly basic products. Until then, you can rely on Alpha Hydrox for supplying AHA products that really work, and a few other surprises too, all affordably priced and readily available.